


Outrunning Karma

by perrythedeer



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Blood and Injury, Domestic Fluff, Future Fic, Pre-Canon, Tales From The SMP, Violence, what the FUCK is a tag and how do they work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:29:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29162694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perrythedeer/pseuds/perrythedeer
Summary: Karl discovers a book from the future- he's not sure where he keeps getting them, but seeing as his goal is to change the fate of the DSMP, knowing what happens after might be an asset.Pre-Lost City!Title from the song of the same name by Alex Benjamin
Relationships: The fishermen!!
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Outrunning Karma

Karl had found the story interesting. Anybody would, the knowledge that someone you know built an entire city and it’d been lost to time. He wasn’t sure where these books kept coming from, but he knew they meant something. If that one was from the future that meant that if he went he could gather some of the information needed to save his friends. Save the place he lived in. He messed with the pages for a minute, before taking a deep breath, and opening his own book & quill, dipping the feather into the ink.

On the other side of the pages, a group of newly adult best friends finish their first proper build, the ginger having done the most work, a huff leaving his lips as he looked back at his friends and smiled. The man in the hat just laughed cheerfully and swung his arms around his two other friends’ shoulders. The goggled man simply sighed and you could hear the smile in the sound, despite the scarf covering his face. The last man, most notably wearing an odd armband, leans against his friend and stares at the build with a quiet laugh. It was a home.

“What are we waitin’ for- let’s go decorate! C’mon!” the first man shouts, having looked back at his friends and rolled his eyes at just how sweet they were acting. They all jumped into action, a quick “Yes, Charles!” reciting from all of them in varying amused tones. 

They decorated the seaside base depending on what they all liked, different rooms and chests filled to the brim, and beds pushed into corners, the middle of the home having been decorated with old kinds of furniture and an old kind of TV that didn’t even work- they didn’t really need it, it was just the aesthetic. The four of them had made it themselves and made it their own. 

Karl sighed and pressed his quill into the paper, running a hand through his hair and looking back at the actual book. They were happy for years, how could things have fallen apart? Who explored the most? He couldn’t figure it out properly, he lifted his quill again and picked up the book, flipping through the pages and trying to find out where everything went wrong. It wasn’t fair to them.

The man in the goggles was following Charles around, an annoyed hum coming from him as he walked. “Charles, you really don’t have to build this place” “Of _course_ I do, Cletus. Ya need a better place to work, and the cabin is always busy, plus it’s so close to water, your electronics will get messed up.” a groan, affection ringing in the sound, and Cletus gently punches Charles in the arm. 

“Thank you, moron.” Cletus smiles as he says it, and watches Charles run off into the forest to get wood. Just falling back and heading back to the cabin to see his other two friends, who were digging through books that Issac had discovered after exploring an old ruins- 

Wait. Issac.

Karl blinked, flipping the pages back and trying to figure out who Issac was. Which man was that? When did he go exploring? He landed at the second chapter, when all the men had turned nineteen. The book talked about fishing trips, boat trips, the fact the four of them had started a farm, Charles had started getting into a relationship with a woman, the rambling about how everything seemed to be going perfectly, where had it gone wrong?

_Where had everything gone wrong?_

Issac was complaining about having nothing to do, laying across two of his friends' laps. He rolled over and tugged Benjamin's hat down over his eyes. “I’m gonna do what I want, and I want to go explore. You all know about the remains of the hermit bases, I want to go and see if I can find any old history books for ya Bens.” a smile crossed his face, and Benjamin yanked his hat back up, glaring at his friend and crossing his arms.

“I can work stuff out through the remains that are in our libraries, you don’t need to go out and endanger yourself.” a huff of agreement came from Charles, and he opened his mouth to talk-

“I’m going whether you guys like it or not.” Issacs voice borderlined on a threat, and Cletus peeked out from the kitchen, and very quickly agreed and offered to go with Issac- meaning someone who knew medical stuff would be going. Which… inevitably got Benjamin and Charles to agree.

Days passed, useless descriptions of how they’d been surviving, it didn’t matter, Karl kept flipping the pages.

Issac and Cletus had gone to the remains. The remains of a city that for Karl, still existed. They’d explored, only able to find old molded remains of books and small pieces of paper that seemed to have blueprints on them and things that just… didn’t matter as much as they had wanted it too, but still good to bring back to Benjamin. 

They’d only gotten attacked once, skeletons, a simple attack. They were able to handle them easily. Cletus and Issac both had some kind of advanced weaponry that Karl could barely make sense of. Except the bombs, some kind of weird pipe bombs that Cletus used, they seemed to be so adept at attacking, like it was built into them. 

They’d ended up going to the ruins of another city nearby, finding some books there, Cletus had gone into an old library, falling apart and pieces of bookshelves and bricks laying around. He’d found three books, talking about old history from the Dream SMP, those would be helpful- maybe. He was leaving the library, taking his holograph phone out of his pocket and getting ready to call Issac and tell him to meet him there-

And three arrows hit him in the side, his eyes shooting wide as he stumbled to the side and collapsed against the ground, grabbing at the books and shoving them into his bag, taking out his weapon, quite literally a kind of laser gun. He looked up at the attacker, someone donned in a hunters outfit, holding a crossbow, fading magenta hair tied into a bun on their head. Another arrow flew at him and Cletus aimed and shot the arrow, vaporizing it in midair… and three fireworks were loaded into the crossbow. Cletus stared for a second, terror making his mind race. He was about to die, wasn’t he?

An axe flew past him and dug into the hunter's shoulder, and suddenly Issac was by his side, pulling his friend up and putting Cletus’ arm around his shoulder, helping him stay standing and moving a bit more so that Cletus would be harder to hit. Easier to hit Issac. The hunter stared at them for a moment, their face was covered by a mask. It… was intimidating, but Issac just glared them down, a netherite sword appearing in his hand.

And the fireworks were shot at them, Issac pulling his sword up and swinging it down, the newly discovered ‘guard’ enchantment creating a shield in front of them that blocked the fireworks from hitting them, and in the blasts of color and chaos, Issac had a shovel out and was digging straight down, pulling Cletus with him, who frantically placed dirt and stone above them to hide themselves. And Issac got down, putting a finger over his lips and smiling at Cletus in an attempt to comfort him.

Cletus’ scarf was pulled away from his face, his goggles were skewed and his bright white eyes were terrified, hands shaking and covered in his own blood, which was staining his clothes where he’d been shot, he barely had a hold on his gun, and after a moment a sob ripped it’s way out of his throat, and Issac slammed a hand over his mouth, wrapping his friend up in a hug and keeping his hand over Cletus’ mouth, trying to keep him quiet, gently shushing him in a weak attempt to make him feel better. 

They stayed there for an hour before emerging, Cletus was barely conscious, and Issac pulled him out of the hole and quickly lifted him in his arms, heading home with the books and his friend. They hadn’t just gotten the books for Benjamin- it was important for them to know where they’d come from. What their history was. 

That didn’t stop Benjamin from getting mad and yelling at them worriedly whilst treating Cletus when they got back.

Karl leaned back in his chair, his mind trying to catch up with what he’d read. It didn’t make sense, had that been Technoblade or one of Techno’s descendants? Maybe one of Dreams? But Dream was immortal, wasn’t he? Had it just been Dream himself? Why was his hair pink? Why did they want the books so bad? Who were these people? Why were they important?

Why had Cletus’ eyes been white?

He skipped forward back to where he’d been in the story before, things had made a bit more sense there, it seemed to be a week or two after looking at some context clues.

Issac and Benjamin were digging through the pages, trying to figure out anything from them. They both looked up when Cletus walked in, a quick “Where’s Charles?” “Gathering wood” exchanged as Cletus sat with them, offering a small smile and taking the third book off the ground. Tales of the SMP. A village that had gone mad… that, interested Cletus pretty quickly, considering his interest in Psychology- and he’d started reading. Issac and Benjamin were respectively buried into ‘The History of Manberg’ and ‘More from Election Day’, none of the books had authors.

Karls hands were shaking, and he slammed the book down on his table, hearing Quackity call for him, asking if he was okay. A loud slam. He dragged his hands up his face, and sighed, slowly pushing himself out of the chair he was in. He’d have to start reading again later. If all this was correct, his world- everything he knew was gone. Manberg was written as Manberg, which… wasn’t right. He slowly moved out of the room.

He collapsed into Quackitys arms and didn’t say a word, just letting his fiance run his fingers through his hair. Things would be different, he’d make sure of it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure they were very ooc but to be fair we weren't given a lot abt anyone but Ranbob so i went. a lil apeshit


End file.
